Arthur Cantor (March 12, 1920 – April 8, 2001) was an accomplished American theatrical producer who contributed to the presentation of over 100 productions that were displayed on stages across the globe, including
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
,
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Many of his most notable productions were those he funded for comic playwrights, such as
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky (January 29, 1923 – August 1, 1981) was an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for writing both adapted and original screenplays.
He was ...
and
Herb Gardner
Herbert George Gardner (December 28, 1934 – September 25, 2003), was an American commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter.
Early life
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gardner was the son of a bar owner. His late brother, Robert ...
.
Cantor was recognized for being a 'hands-on' producer, and was involved in nearly every stage of production, including managing the funding and all publicity for the shows.
Considering he contributed to numerous
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning productions, including the production of
''All the Way Home'',''
'' his tactics for producing proved beneficial. His career was hoisted by his collaborations with some of Broadway's most reputable stars, such as:
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst (3 June 1924 – 22 August 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early drama ...
,
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in ''Fiddler on the Roof'', Pseudolus on stage and on ...
,
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...
,
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...
,
Julie Harris
Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary stage work, she received five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play.
Harris debuted on Broadway in 1945, against the wish ...
,
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy A ...
and
Claire Bloom
Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles in plays such as ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' ''A Doll's House'', and '' Long Day's Journey into Night'', and has starred in nearly sixty film ...
.
Early life
Arthur Cantor was born to parents Samuel S. Cantor, who was a salesman, and Lillian Cantor, who was a landsman.''
'' Having been raised in the
Mattapan
Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester ar ...
section of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Cantor had his first theatre experience as a 4-year-old, when he attended a production at the local
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
playhouse.
Upon his graduation from Harvard in 1950,
Cantor worked as a researcher for the
Gallup Organization
Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its bu ...
. His research position for the Gallup Organization was interrupted by his service for the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
After his service in WWII, Cantor returned to the United States where he took a position as an assistant in the publicity department with the
Playwrights Company.
Joining the Playwrights company would prove to be quite fruitful for Cantor, as this venture instigated the rest of his career.
Career
Cantor established his own agency, which was located in close proximity to
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in New York City, by the early 1950s.
In 1951, Cantor handled the publicity for his first show - a comedy called ''Hook and Ladder'', but it was not well received and only lasted one performance.
It wasn't until 1955 when Cantor was successful with his work as a publicist, and the show
''Inherit the Wind'' is credited for giving him this success.
Upon his initial success, the following four years were succeeded by a sequence of critical successes in handling the publicity for Broadway shows including,
''Long Day's Journey Into Night'', ''Auntie Mame'' and
''The Miracle Worker''.
1957 was a critical year for the progression of Cantor's career, as it was the year he first contributed to producing a theatre production. Cantor decided to invest $2,000 into a new musical about a 'charming con man in a Midwestern town'
- this musical was later known as the ''Music Man''.
The production of Paddy Chayefsky's
''The Tenth Man'', alongside producer Saint Subber, is the second notable work that is responsible for Cantor's respected status as a producer on Broadway.
The work, which debuted on stage in 1959, had previously been rejected by countless producers for it told an unusual story of a young Jewish girl that was possessed by a demon.
''The Tenth Man'', directed by Tyrone Guthrie, later went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
His successes continued through 1961, when he produced Chayefsky's ''Gideon'' as well Tad Mosel's
''All the way Home'', the latter went on to later win a Pulitzer prize.
Another great success for Cantor came a year later in 1962, when he produced Mr. Gardner's ''A Thousand Clowns'', which starred
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...
.
In 1970, Arthur Cantor collaborated with Stuart W. Little,
a theatre writer, to produce a work titled ''The Playmakers'',
which was a study of the theatre industry.
As a fickle spender of money, Cantor grew increasingly frustrated and disturbed by the rising costs of Broadway. This resulted in a shift of his productions from Broadway to theatres Off-Broadway and around the globe, including London and Paris, because production costs were lower for these presentations.
London and Off-Broadway were Cantor's major markets for the following couple decades. During this period, Cantor produced numerous notable works, including ''
Private Lives
''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...
'', which starred
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performer ...
, and ''Hothouse'', a work that was written by
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
.
Cantor briefly returned to Broadway in 1979 to produce
''On Golden Pond''. Although the Broadway production was not fruitful in terms of revenue, the project proved worthwhile when it was later made into an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning film,
which starred
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
and
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
.
Partially incapacitated by a stroke that occurred in late 1998, Cantor's ability to work slowed but did not stop entirely.
He was set to produce a piece, titled ''Scent of Roses'', by South African writer Lisette Lecat Ross in the fall of 1999, but it was halted prior to reaching Broadway.
References
External links
*
Arthur Cantor papers, 1955-1965 held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantor, Arthur
1920 births
2001 deaths
American theatre managers and producers
20th-century American businesspeople
Harvard University alumni
People from Mattapan